Abstract
Soil-woody biomass interactions are relevant for the productivity of bioenergy plantations and biomass quality. In this context, the main objective of this study was to evaluate and to quantify possible relationships between chemical variables of the soil and the produced biomass through a multivariate approach. This latter approach allows to overcome the complex issue of multi-collinearity among variables. Soil and woody biomass samples were collected from two poplar short rotation coppices in Santarém (Portugal) and in Lochristi (Belgium). The results from the analyses of those samples were integrated into three databases with soil, woody biomass and site plots as cases, and 23 physical and chemical properties as variables. The databases were subjected to a multivariate sequence of calculations, which included correlation, principal components, factorial and hierarchical clustering analyses. The calculations showed that the site plots and the woody biomass of genotypes in Lochristi were more homogeneous as compared to Santarém; they also confirmed the high interconnection between soil and woody biomass variables. The higher heating value of the woody biomass correlated well with the soil concentrations of P2O5, Mg, Ca, Na and organic C. Linear equations related the higher heating value to the most important soil and woody biomass variables. Finally, the results suggest that the annual monitoring of soil and biomass in SRC systems should be performed to optimize both productivity and woody biomass quality as a fuel.
Highlights
Short rotation coppice (SRC), an intensively managed agroforestry system to assure that biomass productivity ranges between 10 and 20 tons dry matter (DM) haÀ1 yÀ1 [1], is an option for the efficient production of woody biomass for bioenergy
The homogeneity between sites and woody biomass samples could be evaluated with a reduction of the number of variables from 23 to 8 and from 16 to 6 in the site and biomass datasets, respectively
Significant correlations between soil and woody biomass variables enabled to evaluate the influence of these variables on the properties of the woody biomass samples, such as the HHV and the volatile matter content
Summary
Short rotation coppice (SRC), an intensively managed agroforestry system to assure that biomass productivity ranges between 10 and 20 tons dry matter (DM) haÀ1 yÀ1 [1], is an option for the efficient production of woody biomass for bioenergy. In Europe, poplar is one of the main species used for SRC because of its high plasticity to different latitudes and climatic conditions, high growth rates, high potential for genetic improvement [6e9] and limited requirements for irrigation, herbicides and fertilisers [10,11]. Under medium or poor site conditions, irrigation and fertilisation should be implemented in SRC plantations for improving soil fertility and biomass yield [3,12]. The most important properties of woody biomass for energy are the ratio of bark/wood, the moisture content, the heating value, the contents of cellulose, lignin and extractives, as well as the content and composition of the ash. Around 70% of the heat released during the combustion of woody biomass is associated with the oxidation of the volatile matter. Lignin and xylan in woody biomass contain about 91%, 66% and 77% of volatile matter, respectively. Amounts of 84% of volatile matter, 15% of fixed C and 1% of ashes are typical for poplar wood [14]
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